NEW IPSWICH — The Select Board has approved the lease of a fourth vehicle for the Police department on Tuesday, after Police Chief Tim Carpenter informed them the town’s current fleet was not enough to support a fully staffed department.

The town will use appropriated funds from the town’s police cruiser capital reserve to lease a $34,000 new 2013 Ford Explorer, and outfit the vehicle with a two-way radio and radar, for a total cost of $39,488.

Carpenter told the Select Board at its Tuesday meeting that when he took over the position of police chief in November, he thought the department’s three vehicles would be sufficient. But at that time, the department was severely understaffed. But now, the department is back to nearly a complete full and part-time staff, with another hire expected to be made by the end of the year and the department’s needs have changed. Currently five of six full-time officers positions are filled.

“I didn’t anticipate having a full staff this quickly,” Carpenter said. “To have the overlapping coverage that I think this town really needs, we can’t do that with two [officer] vehicles.”

The department currently owns three vehicles, one for the use of the police chief, and two for on-duty officers — a 2013 Ford Explorer and a 2008 Crown Victoria.

Carpenter told the board that since becoming a full department, there were times that the chief’s vehicle had to be used for regular duties, because the other two weren’t sufficient. And the town’s most recently purchased cruiser, the 2013 Ford Explorer, was already approaching 20,000 miles of use.

“Our life expectancy, at best, is 100,000 miles on a car,” he told the board.

During March polls, town residents approved adding $15,000 to the town’s capital reserve fund for police cruisers, bringing the total fund up to approximately $36,000. Normally, that would be enough to purchase a new cruiser. But the Police Department won’t be able to expend the funds approved this year until 2014, Carpenter said, and the department just can’t wait that long.

Carpenter proposed that, instead of purchasing a new vehicle, the town enter a three- or five-year lease of a cruiser. The first payment wouldn’t be due until May 2014, when all of the capital reserve funds would be available, he said, and the town would have the option of paying off the lease early.

Select Board member Ben Cargill said he supported entering a three-year lease, knowing the town has enough in capital reserve currently to cover at least two years of payments.

The board voted unanimously to approve the use of the police cruiser capital reserve funds to enter a three-year lease agreement for a 2013 Ford Explorer.

Carpenter also informed the board that the department had started the hiring process for a sixth full-time member of the department. The department received about 25 non-certified applicants for the position, and will still be accepting applications though April 30 A hiring decision is expected by mid-July.

Cargill commended Carpenter for the recent rebuilding of full-time staff at the department, saying, “I’ve heard nothing but good things. The process went much smoother than my expectations,” he told him.

The Select Board will meet next on Tuesday in the town offices at 6:30 p.m.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 235 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter at @AshleySaari.